HOWELL

Love birds say 'I do' in Hell on Valentine's Day

Jennifer Eberbach
Livingston Daily

Those who think there is no love in Hell would be incorrect, at least when it comes to Hell, Michigan.

Several couples said "I do" in Hell on Wednesday, a quirky and kitschy unincorporated hamlet that features a small wedding chapel that holds about 12 people at any given time. 

Having just been pronounced husband and wife by the Rev. Yvonne Williams in Hell's Chapel of Love, Dan Koch and Angi Soucie kiss and hug at the end of their Valentine's Day wedding Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018.

Rev. Yvonne Williams said people who get hitched in Hell often have quirky, tongue-in-cheek personalities, and that was no different on Valentine's Day.

"Their marriage license will say married in Hell, so that is why some of them do it," Williams, a resident of neighboring Pinckney, said. "And marriage that begins in Hell has nowhere else to go but up."

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Most people are looking for "a unique venue ... that is tight, cozy and fun," she said. "You know, something non-traditional that is not necessarily church-esque and want to create their own ceremony."

Other couples who get hitched there want "something more sinister," like a couple who planned to wear masks at a ceremony slated for later in the day, she said Wednesday morning. "I've officiated weddings here where I dressed up as Maleficent or costumes because they wanted that."

Bride and groom Angi Soucie and Dan Koch, of Brighton, are of the quirky, humorous variety, they said, a few minutes before their wedding ceremony began. They kept it simple, dressing in matching blue sweatshirts labeled "the bride" and "the groom," to get hitched in front of 11 guests.

Kissing as husband and wife outside of Hell's Chapel of Love, Angi Soucie and Dan Koch of Brighton decided to get married in Hell on Valentine's Day Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

They were possessed to get hitched there "so we could have a marriage license in Hell," Soucie said. 

The couple, who first met in junior high school and reconnected about a year and a half ago, will have a second, more traditional wedding at the Howell Opera House in May. However, they said they didn't want to wait for the marriage license to save on medical insurance right away.

"We just wanted this one to be fun," Koch said. "People rolled their eyes on the Valentine's Day thing, but when you say it's in Hell, they start laughing."

Soucie's parents, Mary and Ron Soucie, of Dexter, enjoyed the experience. 

"My daughter doesn't do anything traditional. She always looks for something unusual, and she found someone to do it who is the same way," Mary Soucie said. 

Six couples signed up to get hitched and one couple planned to renew their vows in the tiny chapel on the day of love, and more would have if they could have. About 17 couples inquired about getting married there on Valentine's Day, which was more than John Colone, the unofficial mayor of Hell and business owner, could accommodate. 

Williams's officiant fee was a devilish $106.66, and it costs $100 to rent the chapel for one hour.

Some couples opted for short and sweet — and free — Valentine's Day ceremonies at Uptown Coffeehouse in downtown Howell.

Howell Area Fire firefighter and wedding officiant Bill Fenton has been offering free Valentine's Day weddings at the cafe for the last two years. He said Wednesday morning he expected to marry about a dozen couples by the end of the day. 

He said the couples he marries often opt to save their money for other things, like household expenses or travel. 

"I can understand where these couples are coming from, because we (he and his wife of 21 years, Lori) went with a frugal one by tying it into our honeymoon vacation to Antigua," he said. "We were spending the money on the trip, so we said, why not just get married on the beach, and we booked it without any friends or family coming."

Newlyweds Megan Patten and David Carroll kiss after their short but sweet wedding ceremony at Uptown Coffeehouse in Howell on Valentine's Day, Wed. Feb. 14, 2018.

Newlyweds Megan Patten and David Carroll, of White Lake, got hitched at the cafe before a small group of family and friends. They are expecting the birth of their daughter in May. 

"Honestly, we couldn't really wait, and we couldn't afford to have an actual wedding, so we decided to come down here and have a nice little family get-together," Carroll said.

Getting married in the middle of a coffeehouse with people they don't know "was actually exciting and fun," Patten said. 

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Jennifer Eberbach Timar at 517-548-7148 or at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. Follow her on Facebook @Jen.Eberbach and Twitter @JenEberbach.